Julia Child and animals

National Catholic Reporter, Oct 31, 2003 by Barbara Stasz

* I both smiled and frowned when reading the article headlined "The zest of Vatican II and Julia Child" (NCR, Sept. 26). I smiled because the author, Diane Filbin, described a happy time with her mother when they used to sit down together and watch the Julia Child TV cooking show.

My own mother and I used to do something similar, only we sat at the kitchen table and shared recipes and food ideas. We never watched Julia Child because she was well-known for using so much butter and many animal and dairy products in her recipes and cooking classes. She became famous by touting the heavy use of these products, and showed little concern about the fat and cholesterol content of her recipes or the cruelty to the animals whose flesh and byproducts she used.

Julia Child is a cook who belongs to yesterday, a time when heavy cream sauces, butter-laden foods, meats oozing with saturated fat and cholesterol, desserts laden with butter, lard, cream cheese, sour cream, whole milk were considered the healthy way to eat. Animal products figured heavily in every meal served when I was a child and, tellingly, many of my male relatives died of heart attacks in their early 60s.

As a Catholic, I believe we should respect Jesus' call for mercy and compassion toward all living beings by not eating them. There is nothing merciful or compassionate about today's factory farms and slaughterhouses where animals are abused. If people such as Julia Child choose to eat meat, they need to know that they are supporting sickening violence against innocent animals.

BARBARA STASZ

St. Paul, Minn.